Playback apparatus with selective user preset control of picture presentation

ABSTRACT

Pictures, stored in compressed, digitized form on a digital data base medium are reproducible on a screen or the like with either a prerecorded presentation format, or a user-defined presentation. Prerecorded presentation parameter settings are stored in the medium along with the picture data. An additional memory is used to store the user-defined settings data. The user selects whether, on any given viewing occasion, to view pictures according to the settings stored in the data base medium or those stored in the additional memory. The additional memory is either fixed in the medium reader, or is removable for use with other readers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a digitized picture playback apparatus ordevice for retrieving pictures from a first digital data base medium inwhich digitized pictures have been stored, the device comprising a readunit for reading the digitized pictures from the first digital data basemedium in accordance with first control information, and a pictureprocessing unit for convening the read digitized pictures into a picturesignal suitable for reproduction means for reproducing a visiblerepresentation of the digitized picture, the picture processing unitconvening the read-out digitized picture in accordance with secondcontrol information in order to effect an adaptation of the reproductionof the digitized picture.

The invention also relates to a method for use with a digital pictureprocessing system wherein a plurality of pictures are digitized andwritten to a first digital data base, the contents of said first digitaldata base being capable of being read by a picture playback device whichcontains a digital data base access controller for controllablyaccessing a digitized picture stored by said first digital data baseand, in response to the contents of a digitized picture accessed fromsaid first digital data base, controllably outputting picture displaycontrol signals for controlling the operation of a picture reproductiondevice, so that the picture accessed from said first digital data baseis displayed thereby. The manner in which said picture playback devicecauses said picture reproduction device to display a picture iscontrolled by a method which comprises the step of

storing first control information through which said controller (a)controls the accessing of a digitized picture from said first digitaldata base and (b) outputs reproduction device control signals.

2. Description of the Related Art

Such a device and method are known, inter alia from the book "CompactDisc Interactive, a designer's overview", published by Kluwer (ISBN9020121219). This book describes the so-called CD-I system. This systemenables digitized pictures to be recorded on a Compact Disc. Thedigitized pictures can be read from the Compact Disc by means of a CD-Iplayer and subsequently a representation of the digitized picture thusread can be displayed on a display screen.

Photographic still pictures, such as those captured by way of a 35 mmcamera, may be digitized and recorded on the CD-I disc, for subsequentplayback on the CD-I player. The output of the CD-I player drives areproduction device, such as a consumer television set or color thermalprinter.

One of the key aspects is the manner in which the digitized pictures arestored to obtain a file format that facilitates both the storage andretrieval of pictures for reproduction by a variety of devices, theresolution of which may vary from device to device.

In particular, when a photographic picture capture medium, such as a 24or 36 frame, 35 mm film strip, is scanned by a high resolution scannerto digitize the respective pictures that have been captured on the film,each digitized picture may be subjected to a compression operator that"down-converts" a very high resolution picture file, (e.g., 2048 linesby 3072 pixels/line file) into an iterative set of residue picture filesand a base, or low, resolution file, (e.g. a 512 lines by 768 pixels perline array representative of the picture). In an example of a preferredcompression, each (512×768) base resolution file may be formatted as aset of four interlaced (256 lines by 384 pixels per line) picturesub-arrays, respectively defined by four sub-arrays of pixels within the512×768 base resolution array, corresponding to odd pixel/odd line, oddpixel/even line, even pixel/odd line, even pixel/even line sub-arrays.

The size of both the base resolution file and its interlaces sub-fieldsare chosen to facilitate the implementation and incorporation of a lowcost, reduced complexity frame store/data retrieval architecture into aconventional CD player, which provides for rapid call-up and display ofselected pictures on a consumer television color monitor. Each capturedpicture may be digitized by the scanner and preferably stored "as is",regardless of its orientation on the film. A header file may be annexedto each picture. This header file may contain orientation, aspect ratioand other minilab operator-generator information that is readable by thedata retrieval microcontroller of a CD player, to control theinterfacing of the base resolution data file from the compact disc to areproduction device (e.g., TV display).

Now although an optical compact disc is a very high quality densitystorage medium, it is a write-once or permanent medium; it cannot beerased or altered. Moreover, in order to provide a substantial degree ofreproductive flexibility to the user, the contents of the picture fileand its associated header, as prepared by the photofinishing minilaboperator, are defined to optimize predefined picture characteristics(scene balance) and to indicate how the picture has been captured anddigitized, rather than tailor the stored picture file for playback on aparticular reproduction device. Further adjustment of parameters of thereproduced picture is left to the user. Thus, where the reproductiondevice is a consumer television monitor, the customer/user mayselectively customize the manner in which a picture file is displayed bythe operation of a player/display control unit (e.g., hand-held IRtransmitter) which drives video display software resident in the player.Indeed, from a practical standpoint, it can be expected that in anygiven roll of film, there will be one or more pictures that a user mayfind less than interesting or may wish to modify (e.g., enlarge, crop)to a preferred presentation.

Because a color picture effectively consists of an extremely large setof parallel information sources, the degree of freedom associated withthe modification of a digitized color picture provides the user withpractically an infinite number of possible alternative appearances forthe base picture file, so that customization of even a single picturemay involve both creativity and the expenditure of a non-substantialperiod of time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide means which result in areduction of time which a consumer spends on customization.

With regard to the playback device, this object is achieved in that thedevice as defined in the opening paragraph comprises means for storing,in a second data base medium, second control information for the controlof the selective adaptation of the reproduction for a plurality ofindividual digitized pictures.

With regard to the method, this object is achieved by a method asdefined in the opening paragraph by the steps of

b) providing a second digital data base which is configured to becoupled with said playback device and the contents of which are readableby and alterable by said controller,

c) storing, in said second digital data base, second control informationfor defining picture display characteristics of one or more digitizedpictures stored by said first digital data base, and

d) causing said controller to access second control information that hasbeen stored by said second digital and to control the display of apicture stored by said first digital data base in accordance with secondcontrol information.

For the device and method according to the invention, the consumer hasto customize each picture only one time. Later on, he can use thecontrol information stored in the second data base medium. The presentinvention is particularly directed to a digitized picture playbackapparatus for use with a digital picture processing system wherein aplurality of photographic pictures that have been captured on aphotographic recording medium, such as a 35 mm film strip, are digitizedand written to an optical compact disc by way of a photoprocessingminilab workstation. The compact disc is then supplied to the customerfor playback on a CD player and display on the customer's hometelevision set. The CD player's microcontroller reads on the contents ofa digitized picture file. The associated second control information(picture parameter data) entered by the consumer during thecustomization is stored in the second data base medium. So the consumerhas to custumize the picture reproduction only one time. Later on, thepicture parameter data generated during this customization areautomatically read from the second data base medium.

It is to be remarked that EP-A-0,169,597, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No.4,779,252, discloses a compact disc equipped with an auxiliary internalmemory through which a user may specify a list of favorite songs to besequenced on playback, rather than having the player access all of theaudio files in the order in which they have been recorded.

However this feature relates only to the storage of a preferentialplaying sequence and not to the storage of control data for the controlof the reproduction of individual associated information parts, such asthe picture parameter data which is used to control the display of anassociated picture.

An embodiment of the playback device is characterized in that the firstdata base medium comprises a record carrier provided with a recordcarrier identification, the second data base medium being adapted tostore, together with the associated record carrier identification, thesecond control information for the coded pictures recorded on the recordcarrier, means for detecting the record carrier identification recordedon the record career, and means for extracting the associated secondcontrol information from the second data base medium after detection ofthe record carrier identification and transferring said second controlinformation to the picture processing unit.

This embodiment has the advantage that the playback device automaticallyaccesses to relevant picture parameter data for the pictures recorded ona record carrier for which already picture parameter data has beenstored in the memory.

Another embodiment of the playback device is characterized in that thedevice comprises

a digital data base access controller which controllably accesses adigitized picture stored by said first digital data base medium and, inresponse to the contents of a digitized picture accessed from said firstdigital data base, controllably outputs picture display control signalsfor controlling the representation of the picture,

memory means which stores the first control information through whichsaid digital data base access controller controls the accessing of adigitized picture from said first digital data base and outputs displaycontrol signals;

input means for supplying to said digital data base access controllerthe second control information for defining picture displaycharacteristics of one or more digitized pictures stored by said firstdigital data base, so as to cause said controller to control the displayof a digitized picture stored by said first digital data base inaccordance with said second control information;

the second data base medium being configured to be removably engageablewith said device and the contents of which are readable by and alterableby said controller; and

interface means, coupled with said controller, for storing, in saidsecond digital data base, said second control information, so that saidsecond data base, upon being removed from said playback device, willcontain said second control information.

This embodiment enables a user to save the picture parameter data of acustomized picture; not only for future reproduction on the veryreproduction device that has been used to customize one or more picturesstored on the disc, but also for future playback on other playbackdevices, for example that belonging to a relative or neighbor.

The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of example,with reference to FIGS. 1 to 27.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIGS. 1a, 1b and 1c show a picture-storage system, a picture retrievaland reproduction system, and a simplified picture retrieval andreproduction system, respectively;

FIG. 2 shows a suitable format for recording picture information on arecord carrier;

FIG. 3 illustrates a suitable method for digitizing the pictureinformation;

FIG. 4 illustrates a suitable residual coding to be used for indigitizing picture information;

FIG. 5 illustrates a suitable arrangement of the color information of apicture for a series of digitized pictures of increasing resolutions;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a picture processing function;

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of a retrieval and reproduction systemcapable of displaying picture information in accordance with pictureparameter data;

FIG. 8 shows a suitable format for recording picture parameter data onthe record carrier;

FIG. 9 shows a suitable format for storing picture parameter data in anonvolatile memory;

FIG. 10 shows a mosaic picture composed of sixteen low-resolutionpictures;

FIG. 11 shows in greater detail an embodiment of the simplified pictureretrieval and reproduction system;

FIG. 12 shows in greater detail an embodiment of the picture storagesystem;

FIG. 13 shows a recording unit for use in the picture storage system;

FIG. 14 diagrammatically illustrates the CD-ROM XA format;

FIG. 15 shows a suitable organisation of the record carrier if thepicture information has been recorded in accordance with a CD-I format;

FIG. 16 shows an example of a picture processing unit;

FIGS. 17 and 18 illustrate picture processing functions to be performedby the picture processing unit;

FIG. 19 shows an embodiment of a read device;

FIG. 20 diagrammatically illustrates the use of a sample rate converterin a simplified picture processing unit; and

FIG. 21 diagrammatically illustrates a photographic color filmprocessing system in which the present invention may be employed;

FIG. 22 diagrammatically illustrates the signal processing architectureof a digitized still photographic picture playback apparatus thatincorporates an auxiliary removable memory module for storing andretrieving user-customized picture parameter date;

FIG. 23 illustrates the organization of the data stored in an EEPROMmodule for the storage of parameters which control picturecustomization;

FIG. 24 and 25 illustrates the organization of data in respective discdata files;

FIG. 26 shows a removable EEPROM module programmed to produce one ormore "album" picture discs; and

FIG. 27 shows the push-button layout configuration of a user-operated IRremote control unit for operating a CD player.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Before describing, in detail, the particular improved picture parameterdata storage and retrieval mechanism in accordance with the presentinvention, it should be observed that the present invention residesprimarily in a novel structural combination of conventional signalprocessing circuits and components and not in the particular detailedconfigurations thereof. Accordingly, the structure, control andarrangement of these conventional circuits and components have beenillustrated in the drawings by readily understandable block diagramswhich show only those specific details that are pertinent to the presentinvention, so as not to obscure the disclosure with structural detailswhich will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art having thebenefit of the description herein. Thus, the block diagram illustrationsof the figures do not necessarily represent the mechanical structuralarrangement of the exemplary system, but are primarily intended toillustrate the major structural components of the system in a convenientfunctional grouping, whereby the present invention may be more readilyunderstood.

FIG. 1a shows a picture storage system 12 in which the invention can beused. The picture storage system 12 comprises a picture scanning unit 1for scanning pictures on a photographic picture capture medium 3, forexample, a 35 mm film strip. The picture scanning device 1 furthercomprises a picture digitizing unit for digitizing the pictureinformation obtained upon scanning. The digitizing picture informationis recorded on a data base medium, e.g., a record carrier 184, by meansof a recording unit 5 under control of a control unit 4. Prior torecording, the control unit 4 can apply an optional picture processing,for example, to enhance, correct or edit the picture representationdefined by the digitized picture information. For this purpose, thecontrol unit may comprise picture processing means which are known perse. The recording unit 5 may comprise, for example, an optical, amagnetic or a magneto-optical recording device. In view of the highstorage capacity of optical and magneto-optical record carriers, it ispreferred to use an optical or a magneto-optical recording device. Thecontrol unit 4 may comprise a computer system, for example, a so-called"personal computer" or a so-called workstation with suitable hardwareand application software.

FIG. 1b shows a picture retrieval and reproduction system for retrievingand displaying representations of digitized pictures stored on therecord carrier 184 by means of the picture storage system 12. Thepicture retrieval and reproduction system 13 comprises a read unit 6 forlocating and reading out selected digitized pictures under control of acontrol unit 7. Representations of digitized pictures thus read can bemade visible on a picture reproduction unit. Such a picture reproductionunit may comprise a display screen 8, which, for example, forms part ofthe control unit 7, or an electronic picture printer 9 for generating ahard copy 15 of a representation of the read-out digitized picture. Thepicture retrieval and reproduction system 13 may further comprise anadditional recording device 5a, by means of which the digitized pictureinformation read by means of the read device 6, can be recorded after anoptional picture processing operation performed by the control unit 7for the purpose of enhancement, correction or editing. The control unitin the picture retrieval and reproduction system 13 may comprise acomputer system, for example, a "Personal Computer", or a workstationwith suitable hardware and application software. Although such a systemis very suitable for the control task to be performed and the optionalpicture processing, it has the drawback that it is comparativelyexpensive.

In general, it is desirable to have such an expensive computer systemfor the control unit in conjunction with the electronic picture printer9 because of the complexity of the control and picture processingfunctions. However, if it is merely desired to display selecteddigitized pictures on a display screen, the computing capacity andstorage capacity of a computer system in the form of a personal computeror workstation are high in comparison with the control functions to beperformed. In that case, it is preferred to employ a simplified controlunit with a limited computing and storage capacity and a limited dataprocessing speed. The system as shown comprise a digitized pictureplayback device, which includes the read unit 6, and a pictureprocessing unit which converts the digitized picture read by the readunit into a picture signal which is suitable for the reproduction unit(display screen 8 or printer 9). This picture processing unit may becomprised partly or completely into the read unit 6, the control unit 7or the picture reproduction units 8 or 9.

FIG. 1c shows a simplified picture retrieval and reproduction system 14.This simplified system 14 comprises a display unit 10 and a pictureretrieval and a digitized picture playback device 11 comprising the readunit 6. A control unit for controlling the retrieval and read operationand, if applicable, limited picture processing can be accommodated inone of the units 10 and i 1, but suitably in the unit 11. When thecontrol unit is accommodated in the retrieval and read unit 11, it ispossible to employ, among others, a standard TV set or monitor unit forthe picture display device.

This is an advantage, in particular, for consumer uses because theconsumer then merely has to purchase the retrieval and read device todisplay the representations of the pictures.

As a result of their comparatively high cost, the picture storage system12 shown in FIG. 1a and the picture retrieval and reproduction system 13shown in FIG. 1b are particularly suitable for central uses, forexample, in photoprocessing laboratories or photofinishing minilabs.

For recording digitizing picture information, it is preferred to recordthe information on the record carrier in a predetermined format andorder. FIG. 2 shows a suitable format and order, in which filescontaining coded picture information bear the references IP1, . . . ,IPn. Hereinafter, the files IP1, . . . , IPn will be referred to aspicture files. Moreover, a plurality of control files BB have beenrecorded. These files contain a read out control data which is used forcontrolling the read-out of the digitized picture information andpicture parameter data, for the purpose of performing optional pictureprocessing operations on the picture information read and for thepurpose of displaying representations of the digitized pictureinformation. It is to be noted that the picture parameter data may beincluded in the picture files. The advantage of this is that therequired picture parameter data becomes available at the instant atwhich it is needed, i.e., at the instant at which the picture file isread.

Apart from the picture files Ip and the associated control files BB, itmay be desirable in a number of cases to record files with additionalinformation, for example audio information or text information. Suchaudio and/or text information may relate to, for example, digitizedpicture information and can then be reproduced or displayed when therepresentations of the relevant digitized picture information aredisplayed. The files with additional information are referenced ADD andmay be recorded, for example, after the coded picture information.

For every digitized picture stored, the picture files contain aplurality of subfiles, which each define a representation of the samescanned picture, the resolutions of the representations defined by thesecoded pictures being different. In FIG. 2, the different subfiles forthe picture file IP1 bear the references TV/4, TV, 4TV, 16TV, 64TV,256TV. The subfile TV defines a representation of the scanned picturewith a resolution corresponding substantially to a standard NTSC or PALTV picture. Such a picture may comprise, for example, 512 lines of 768pixels each. The subfile TV/4 represents the scanned picture with aresolution which, in the horizontal and the vertical directions, hasbeen reduced linearly by a factor of 2 relative to the resolution of thepicture represented by the subfile TV. The subfiles 4TV, 16TV, 64TV and256TV define picture representations whose horizontal and verticalresolution has been increased linearly by a factor of 2, 4, 8 and 16,respectively. Preferably, the subfiles are arranged in such a way thatthe resolutions of the representations defined by the successivedigitized pictures increase (linearly) in steps of 2. Duringreproduction, when the consecutive subfiles are generally readsuccessively, it is then simple to first display a representation of apicture of low resolution and, subsequently, to replace thisrepresentation wholly or partly by representations of the same pictureof, each time, increasing resolution. This has the advantage that thewaiting time before a picture representation appears on the displayscreen is minimized. Indeed, on account of the limited amount ofinformation needed for this, the read-out time of a digitized picturedefining a low-resolution representation is short in comparison with theread-out time of encoded pictures defining higher-resolutionrepresentations.

A generally known representation of pictures is that in which thepicture is composed of a matrix of small areas of constant luminancevalue and/or constant color value. In this representation, it iscustomary to select the areas of constant color value to be larger thanthe areas of constant luminance value.

An area of constant color value will be referred to hereinafter as acolor pixel and an area of constant luminance value will be referred tohereinafter as a luminance pixel. A row of color pixels of a width equalto the full picture width will be referred to hereinafter as a colorpicture line. A row of luminance pixels of a width equal to the fullpicture width will be referred to hereinafter as a luminance pictureline. A picture represented by luminance picture lines and color picturelines can be defined simply by a digitized picture by assigning to eachluminance pixel and color pixel a digital code specifying the relevantluminance value and color values. These digital codes will be referredhereinafter as digitized pixels.

FIG. 3, by way of illustration, shows the structure of a picture ofcolor pixels and luminance pixels. The luminance pixels bear thereference signs (Y₂, 1 ; . . . ; Y_(K-1),R-1). The color pixels bear thereference signs (C₁,1 ; . . . ; C_(K),R). It is to be noted that in FIG.3, as is customary, the dimensions of the color pixels in the horizontaland the vertical directions are twice as large as the dimensions of theluminance pixels. This means that the resolution of the colorinformation in the horizontal and the vertical directions is a factor oftwo lower than the resolution of the luminance information.

A suitable picture coding is that in which a digital code or digitalcodes is/are assigned to every luminance pixel and every color pixel thecode(s) defining the absolute value of the luminance component Y and theabsolute values of the color difference components U and V,respectively. Such a coding will be referred to hereinafter as anabsolute picture coding. The digitized pictures achieved by absolutepicture coding will be referred hereinafter as absolutely codedpictures. Preferably, representations of a number of low-resolutionpictures are recorded as absolutely coded pictures. This enables thepicture information to be recovered in a simple manner. This isparticularly advantageous for the simplified picture retrieval andreproduction system 14, because this enables the price of such a system,which is intended for the consumer market, to be kept low by the use ofsimple picture decoding systems.

The use of a picture file with a number of absolutely coded pictures ofdifferent resolutions simplifies the reproduction of representations ofcomposite pictures, where a representation of a small low-resolutionpicture is displayed within the outline of a representation of ahigher-resolution picture. The reproduction of such a representation ofa composite picture is referred to as "Picture-in-Picture" ("PIP").Moreover, recording a plurality of absolutely coded pictures definingrepresentations of the same picture with different resolutionssimplifies the reproduction of enlarged representations of details of adigitized picture. Such a function is also referred to as theTELE-functions, (or ZOOM-function). The availability of absolutely codedpictures with different resolutions implies that for some of the TELEfunctions and PIP functions the required picture information is directlyavailable and need not be derived by means of additional pictureprocessing operations to be performed by complex circuits.

In the recording of picture information, it is customary to record thedigitized pixels in rows (or lines) or sometimes in columns. Recordingin lines is to be preferred because in the customarily used picturedisplay units, the picture information should be presented in the formof lines.

For high resolutions, the storage of absolutely coded pictureinformation has the drawback that the amount of information to berecorded is very large. For such high-resolution pictures, a residualcoding is very suitable. In such a residual coding, differences betweenthe signal value of the pixels of the high-resolution picture and thesignal value of the corresponding past of the lower-resolution pictureare determined and subsequently encoded.

To illustrate this coding method, FIG. 4 shows one luminance pixel Y ofa low-resolution picture and four luminance pixels Y₁,1 '; Y₂,1 '; Y₁,2' and Y₂,2 ' of the corresponding higher-resolution picture in the casethat the horizontal and the vertical resolution is increased by a factorof 2. Instead of the absolute luminance value of the luminance pixelsY₁,1 ', . . . , Y₂,2 ; the residual coding encodes differences(hereinafter referred to as residual values) between the luminancevalues of the luminance pixels Y₁,1 ', . . . , Y₂,2 ' and the luminancepixel Y. In this way, the residual values of a complete picture can bedetermined both for the luminance and for the color information. As thenumber of residual values equal to zero or being very small is large incomparison with the number of large residual values, a substantial datacompression can be obtained by applying an additional coding in whichthe residual values are non-linearly quantized and are subsequentlysubjected to, for example, a Huffman coding. A digitized pictureachieved by the above residual coding will be referred hereinafter as aresidually coded picture.

A residually coded picture can be used as a basis for a new residualcoding for a picture with further increased resolutions. Thus, byrecording one absolutely coded low-resolution picture and a series ofresidually coded pictures of increasing resolutions in compressed form,it is possible to record a plurality of digitized pictures definingrepresentations of the same picture with increasing resolutions. In thepicture file IPI shown in FIG. 2, the pictures in the subfiles TV/4 andTV are absolutely coded and the pictures in the subfiles 4TV, 16TV, 64TVand 256TV are residually coded, with non-linear quantization and Huffmancoding.

The color information is also coded residually in a way similar to theluminance information. However, the horizontal and the verticalresolution of the consecutive residually coded color informationincreases by a factor of four instead of by a factor of two as with theluminance information. This means that a picture file containing onlyresidually coded luminance information and no color information (4TV and64TV) alternates with a picture file containing both residually codedluminance information and residually coded color information (16TV and256TV), see FIG. 2. Leaving out the color information in the subfiles4TV and 64TV reduces the required storage capacity and the access timeto the coded picture information in the picture file. However, theabsence of the color information in the sub files 4TV and 64TV need notadversely affect the picture quality during reproduction. This isbecause during the reproduction of a representation of a digitizedpicture for which no color information has been recorded, the colorinformation of the next coded picture defining a representation ofhigher resolution or the color information of the preceding codedpicture defining a representation of lower resolution can be utilized.In order to reduce the total access time to the required pictureinformation, it is to be preferred to record the color information U, Vin the subfiles 16TV and 256TV contiguously to the luminance informationY in the subfiles 4TV and 64TV, as is illustrated for the file IP* inFIG. 2.

As already stated, it is customary to record the digitized pixels lineby line.

The stored digitized pictures generally define a number of pictures witha "horizontal" orientation or landscape format (i.e., for a faithfulreproduction, the picture should be displayed in an orientation in whichthe width of the picture is larger than the height of the picture) and anumber of pictures with "vertical" orientation or portrait format (i.e.,for a faithful reproduction, the picture should be displayed in anorientation in which the height of the picture is larger than the widthof the picture).

By way of illustration, FIG. 1 shows a picture capture medium 3 withsome pictures in landscape format (2a, 2b, 2c and 2d) and one picture inportrait format (2e). On the record carrier, all the digitized picturesare recorded as though they were representations of pictures inlandscape format. This is in order to enable a uniform picture scanningto be used without the necessity to detect whether the scanned pictureis of the landscape or portrait type and to change over the scanningand/or picture processing depending upon the detection result. However,this means that during reproduction, the representations of portraitformat pictures will be displayed with an incorrect orientation. Thiscan be precluded by providing a possibility to assign a orientation codeto the recorded coded pictures, this code indicating the orientation ofthe scanned picture. This code can be used to determine whether therepresentation should be rotated during reproduction and, if this is thecase, whether the representation should be rotated through an angle of90, 180 or 270 degrees. This orientation code can be included in everypicture file IP1, . . . , Ipn. It is also possible to record theseorientation codes in the control file BB or to store these orientationcodes in a non-volatile memory arranged in the read unit or connected tothis unit.

During reproduction, it is then possible to determine, on the basis ofthe orientation code, whether the representation to be displayed shouldbe rotated and, if this is the case, a rotation through the desiredangle can be performed prior to reproduction. A drawback of includingthe orientation codes in the picture files IP is that these rotationcodes have to be determined already during scanning of the pictures. Inpractice, this means that an operator of the picture storage systemshould determine for each scanned picture whether the stored picture isto be rotated during reproduction, because the known auxiliary devicesare not always capable of detecting whether a scanned picture is oflandscape or portrait format and whether the picture is presented to thescanning unit with the correct orientation. This is undesirable inparticular because it implies that an operator must be present duringrecording, which makes it difficult to realize a fully automated picturestorage system 12.

If the orientation codes are already available during recording of thedigitized picture information, it will be advantageous to record thesecodes on the record carrier. In the case of the file organization shownin FIG. 2 a suitable position for recording the rotation codes is thesubfile FPS of the control file BB. For reasons of user convenience, itis desirable to specify, apart from the required rotation, whetherinstead of a representation of stored coded pictures, a representationwhich is slightly shifted (to the left, right, top or bottom) should bedisplayed. This is certainly desirable if the display area within whichthe representation is to be displayed in a display unit is smaller thanthe dimensions of the representations, because it is possible that animportant detail of the picture falls outside the display area. Thedesired shift can be specified by assigning a translation code to everydigitized picture. In FIG. 6, a suitable translation coding for apicture 90 is defined by means of the coordinates xp and yp of a vertex91 of the picture 90 to be displayed after translation. By means of atranslation code and a magnification code, it is possible to specify themagnification factor with which a certain part of the original pictureis to be displayed. The reference numeral 93 indicates an enlargedrepresentation of a part of the picture 90, defined by a translation xp,yp and a magnification factor of 2. In addition to the above data, it isalso possible to include other picture parameter data in the subfile FPSof the control file BB, such as, for example, parameters specifying acolor or luminance adaptation and other picture processing operations tobe applied before a representation of the coded picture is displayed.Moreover, it is advantageous to store the desired sequence in which thepictures must be reproduced in the subfile FPS within the control fileBB.

A collection of picture parameter data defining the preferred sequenceas well as all the desired picture parameter data for all the codedpictures on a record carrier will be referred to hereinafter as a set ofpicture parameter data. It may be advantageous to record more than oneset of picture parameters data in the file FPS. This enables a differentdisplay sequence and other picture processing operations to be selectedby different persons, for example, persons within a family. It alsoallows a user to make a choice from different sets of picture parameterdata. It is to be noted that when a record carrier of the write-oncetype is used, the sets of picture parameter data can be recorded on therecord carrier only if they are available during initial recording. Thisrequires human intervention during recording. During reading of therecord carrier, a set of picture parameter data is selected and therepresentations of the coded pictures can be displayed in conformitywith the selected set of picture parameter data. FIG. 7 is a blockdiagram of an embodiment of a picture retrieval and display system bymeans of which representations of coded pictures can be displayed inconformity with a selected set of picture parameter data. In thisdiagram, the reference numeral 100 refers to a read unit for reading therecord carrier. For the purpose of applying the information being read,the read unit 100 is coupled to a control and signal processing unit101. From the information received from the read device 100, the unit101 selects the file FPS containing the set(s) of picture parameter dataand stores this (these) set(s) in a control memory 102. By means of adata entry unit 103, for example, a remote control device, a user canselect a set from the control memory 102 and can subsequently activatethe unit 101 to start the read cycle, in which the digitized pictureinformation is read in the sequence specified by the selected set ofpicture parameter data under control of the unit 101. After thedigitized picture information has been read out, this information isprocessed in accordance with the selected set of picture parameter dataand is applied to a display unit 104.

It may occur that after some time, the picture parameter data stored onthe record carrier are no longer entirely in compliance with the user'swishes or that no or incorrect picture parameter data have been recordedon the record carrier. This is problematic, in particular if the recordcarrier is of a type which cannot be overwritten, because the recordedpicture parameter data then cannot be adapted. This problem can bemitigated by providing the retrieval and display system in FIG. 7 with adigital data base medium, e.g., a non-volatile memory 105 in whichtogether with a record carrier identification code, a new set of pictureparameter data or information about the desired changes of the pictureparameter data relative to the set of picture parameter data recorded onthe record career is stored for the record carrier specified by means ofthe record career identification code. In view of the limited storagecapacity of the non-volatile memory 105, it is desirable to record theinformation necessary for the picture parameter data in a most compactform, for which reason it is preferred to record the information aboutthe changes of the picture parameter data.

FIG. 8 shows, by way of example, a suitable format 110 of the pictureparameter data included in the file FPS on the record carrier. Theformat 110 comprises a section DID in which the unique record carrieridentification code is stored. Such a code may comprise a large randomnumber generated by means of a random-number generator and recorded onthe record carrier. The code may comprise a time code indicating thetime in years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds and fractions ofseconds. Alternatively, the record carrier identification code maycomprise a combination of a time code and a random number. In the format110, the section DID is followed by sections FPS1, FPS2, . . . , FPSnin, which a number of different sets of picture parameter data arestored. Each of the preferential reproduction setting sections FPS1, . .. , FPSn contains a portion SEL in which a set identification number foreach of the different sets of picture parameter data to be selected bydifferent users are specified, and a portion specifying the sequence SEQin which the representations of the stored pictures are to bereproduced. This portion is followed by the coded sections FIM#1, . . ., FIM#n storing, for the pictures 1, . . . , n, the picture parameterdata indicating preferential processing operations to be performedbefore the representation of the relevant picture are displayed.

FIG. 9 shows, by way of example, a suitable format 120 in which theinformation about the desired adaptations of the set of pictureparameter data can be stored in the non-volatile memory 105. The format120 comprises a section 121 specifying combinations of record carrieridentifications and set identification numbers for which informationabout picture parameter data has been stored. To each of thesecombinations, a pointer is assigned, this pointer being included in thesection DID-POINT and specifying the address of the sections DFPS1, . .. , DFPSn in the non-volatile memory 105.

Every section DFPS comprises a portion LSEQ with a code indicating thespace (for example, in numbers of bytes) required to specify the newsequence. If the portion LSEQ indicates a length not equal to zero, LSEQwill be followed by a portion NSEQ with the data specifying the newdisplay sequence. After NSEQ, the new preferential processing operationsare specified for every picture with modified preferential processingoperations. ROT indicates the section with the orientation code. Thesections LTELE and LPAN specify the length available for the storage ofthe new data relating to picture magnification (in a section NTELE) andpicture translation (in a section NPAND. In this way, it is possible toselect the accuracy with which the picture processing information is tobe stored. Thus, it is possible, for example, to define three differentlengths indicating three different accuracies. LTELE and LPAN arefollowed by the portions NTELE and NPAN. If the information about thepicture magnification and picture translation need not be changed, thisis indicated by the length zero in LTELE and LPAN. By storing only thepreferential processing operations for pictures with modifiedpreferential processing operations, the space required for the storageof the new picture parameter data is reduced considerably. Apart fromthe reduction of the required storage space by said recording of thedifferences, it is possible to obtain an additional reduction byspecifying the length required for the storage of modified data. Whenthe record carrier is read, an adapted set of picture parameter data isderived from the picture parameter data recorded on the record carrierand the differences stored in the memory 105, and this adapted set isstored in the memory 102.

Instead of, or in addition to, the fixed non-volatile memory 105 achangeable memory 106, for example, in the form of a magnetic card,EPROM, EEPROM or NVRAM, can be employed for the storage of pictureparameter data in the retrieval and display system shown in FIG. 7.

This has the advantage that a user can display the picture informationon a record carrier in accordance with the same picture parameter dataon different picture retrieval and display systems to which a changeablememory 106 can be connected. When one of the two or both memories 105and 106 are used for the storage of picture parameter data, it isdesirable that a selection is made from the different sets of pictureparameter data defined by the sets of picture parameter data on therecord carrier and by the modifications of the picture parameter datastored in the memories 105 and 106. For this purpose the unit 101 shouldcomprise selection means: These selection means may be of a type whichare operated by the user to make a choice from the various sets ofpicture parameter data defined for one specific record carrier andselection number by the picture parameter data information stored on therecord carrier and in the memories 105 and 106. However, alternatively,these selection means may be of a type which, prior to reproduction onthe basis of the contents of the memories 105 and 106 and the sets ofpicture parameter data recorded on the record carrier, determine thesets of picture parameter data available for the relevant record careersand store them, for example, in the memory 102. Subsequently, one of theavailable sets of picture parameter data in the memory 102 is selectedin accordance with a predetermined selection criterion. Preferably, theselection criterion is such that the highest priority is assigned to thepicture parameter data information in the changeable memory 106, mediumpriority to the picture parameter data information in the non-volatilememory, and the lowest priority to the picture parameter data on therecord carrier. If the unit 101 comprises a computer, automaticselection can be realized by loading the computer with a suitableselection program.

Now reference is made again to the file OV in FIG. 2, which for all thepicture files IP1, . . . , IPn, comprises a subfile TV/16 containing anabsolutely coded low-resolution picture. Recording a file OV has theadvantage that an overview of the digitized picture information recordedon the record carrier can be obtained with a minimal access time. Thisis possible, for example, by successively displaying the digitizedpictures in the subfile TV/16 as representations which wholly or partlyfill the display screen, preferably in the sequence defined by theselected set of picture parameter data. However, it is also possible tocompose a representation in the form of a so-called mosaic picture fromthe subfiles. In this mosaic picture, a large number of representationsof the coded low-resolution pictures contained in the subfiles TV/16 arearranged in the form of a matrix, preferably in an order dictated by theselected set of picture parameter data. By way of illustration FIG. 1shows a mosaic picture 130 made up of the representations (IM#1, IM#3, .. . , IM#26) of sixteen low-resolution subfile pictures.

FIG. 11 shows an embodiment of the picture retrieval and display systemof FIG. 1c in more detail. In the present system, the picture retrievaland read unit 11 comprises the read unit 6, a control unit 140 and apicture processing unit 141. The read unit 6 supplies the informationread from the record carrier to the control unit 140 and to the pictureprocessing unit 141 via a signal path 142. The control unit 140 thenselects specific information contained in the control files BB and IIDBfrom the information read. The picture processing unit 141 selectspicture information from the information read and converts this pictureinformation into a form suitable for the display unit 10. The read unit6 and the picture processing unit 141 are controlled by the control unit140 on the basis of the data entered by a user, for example, via a dataentry unit 143, and on the basis of the control data in the controlfiles BB and IIDB.

FIG. 1B shows an embodiment of the picture storage system 12 in greaterdetail. The scanning unit 1 in FIG. 12 comprises a scanning element 170for scanning the photographic picture capture medium 3 and for conveningthe scanned picture information into customary information signals, forexample, RGB picture signals, representing the scanned picture. Thepicture signals at the output of the scanning element define the highestattainable resolution in number of pixels per picture. The informationsignals supplied by the scanning element 170 are convened into aluminance signal Y and two color-difference signals U and V by means ofa customary matrix circuit 171. A coding circuit 172 converts thesignals Y, U and V in a customary manner into absolutely coded signals(for the lower-resolution pictures) and residually coded signals (forthe higher-resolution pictures) in accordance with the coding schemesdescribed hereinbefore. The scanning element 170, the matrix circuit 171and the coding circuit 172 are controlled by means of a customarycontrol circuit 174 on the basis of control commands applied to thecontrol circuit 174 by the control unit 4 via an interface circuit 175.The absolutely and residually coded picture information generated by thecoding circuit 172 is applied to the control unit 4 via the interfacecircuit 175. The control unit 4 may comprise a computer system having adisplay unit 176, a computing and storage unit 177 and a data entry unit178, for example, a keyboard, for data input by the user. In a customarymanner, the display unit 176 and the data entry unit 178 are coupled tothe computing and storage unit 177. The computing and storage unit 177is further coupled to the picture scanning unit 1 and the recording unit5 via an interface circuit 179 and 180, respectively. The recording unit5 comprises a formatting and coding unit 181 which converts theinformation to be recorded, this information being received from thecontrol unit via an interface circuit 182, into codes which are suitablefor recording and which are arranged in a format suitable for recording.The data which has thus been coded and formatted is applied to a writehead 183, which records a corresponding information pattern on therecord carrier 184. The recording process is controlled by a controlcircuit 185 on the basis of the control commands received from thecontrol unit 4 and, if applicable, address information indicating theposition of the write head 183 relative to the record carrier 184.

The storage and control unit 177 is loaded with suitable software toarrange the residually coded digitized picture information supplied bythe scanning unit 1 in a customary manner in accordance with theafore-mentioned formatting rules and to compose the picture files IP andOV. Moreover, the computing and storage unit 177 has been loaded withsoftware for inserting in the control file, in a customary manner and inaccordance with the afore-mentioned formatting rules, the pictureparameter data input by an operator together with other automaticallygenerated control data, such as, for example, a list of addresses atwhich the-various files have been recorded on the record carrier 184.

The computing and storage unit 177 may further have-picture processingsoftware enabling the scanned picture information to be processed, forexample, for the purpose of error correction, such as, for example,out-of-focus correction and grain removal, or for the purpose of coloradaptation or brightness adaptation of the picture.

The files composed by means of the computing and storage unit 177 areapplied to the recording unit 5 in the desired sequence in order to berecorded.

Very suitable combinations of a record carrier 184 and a recording unit5 have been described in detail inter alia in European PatentApplications no. 88203019.0, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,035,90201309.3, 8900092.8, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,300,8802233.8, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,168, 8901206.3,corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,219, 90201094.1, corresponding toU.S. Pat. No. 5,226,027, 90201582.5, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No.5,303,217, 90200687.3, 90201579.1 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No.5,072,435 and Dutch Patent Applications no. 8902358, corresponding toU.S. Pat. No. 5,428,598 and 9000327. The record carrier describedtherein is eminently suited for recording information in accordance witha CD format. A recording device for recording the files on such recordcarrier is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 13. The shown recording devicecomprises a formatting circuit 186, which composes the information to berecorded, which has been applied via the interface circuit 182, inaccordance with a formatting scheme, for example, as customary in theso-called CD-ROM or CD-ROM XA system.

By way of illustration, this format is shown broadly in FIG. 14. Inaccordance with this format, the data is arranged in blocks BLCK of alength corresponding to the length of a subcode frame in the CD signal.Each block BLCK comprises a block synchronizing section SYNC, a headersection HEAD containing an address in the form of an absolute time codecorresponding to the absolute time code in the subcode portion recordedwith the block, and, if the CD-ROM XA format is used, the block BLCKfurther comprises a subheader section SUBHEAD containing, inter alia, afile number and a channel number. In addition, each block BLCK comprisesa DATA section containing the information to be recorded. Each blockBLCK may also comprise a section EDC&ECC containing redundantinformation for the purpose of error detection and error corrections.The recording unit 5 shown in FIG. 13 further comprises a CIRC codingcircuit 187 for interleaving the information and for adding parity codesfor the purpose of error detection and error correction (hereinafteralso referred to as error correction codes). The CIRC encoding circuit187 performs the above-mentioned operations upon the formattedinformation supplied by the formatting circuit 186. After theseoperations have been performed, the information is applied to an EFMmodulator 188, in which the information is given a form which lendsitself better for recording on the record carrier. Moreover, the EFMmodulator 188 adds subcode information, which includes, inter alia, anabsolute time code as address information in the so-called subcode Qchannel.

FIG. 15 shows an organization of the record carrier in the case that theinformation has been recorded in the track 20 in accordance with the CDformat described above. Parts corresponding to the organization shown inFIG. 2 bear the same reference numerals.

The recorded information is preceded by a lead-in section LI (alsoreferred to lead-in track), as customary in the recording of CD signals,and is terminated with a customary lead-out section LO (also referred toas lead-out track).

When the information is recorded in CD format, it is preferred toinclude in the control file BB a section recorded in accordance with theCD-I standard. These sections are the "Disk Label & Directory",referenced DL, and the so-called application programs, referenced AF.This enables the recorded picture information to be displayed by meansof a standard CD-I system. Preferably, a sub file FPS with the sets ofpicture parameter data is also included in the application programsection AF. In addition to the sections DL and AT, the control file BBcomprises a subfile IT comprising a section CNTR with control data and asection FPS with the sets of picture parameter data. Preferably, thesection IT is recorded in a predetermined area, also known as the"pregap" on the record career in a section of predetermined length. Thisis in order to simplify retrieval of the required information by themicrocomputer. Further recording in the pregap has the advantage thatthe format meets the CD-I format requirements. If the section IT is notlarge enough to accommodate all the control data, a part of the controldata can be recorded in a section ITC after the file OV. In that case,it is preferred to include a pointer in the section IT to specify thestarting address of ITC.

FIG. 16 shows the picture processing unit 141 in greater detail. Thepicture processing unit 141 comprises a first detection circuit 250 fordetecting synchronization codes LD and picture line numbers LNindicating the beginning of each residually coded picture line. A seconddetection circuit 251 serves for detecting the beginning of each subfilein each picture file with a residually coded picture to indicate thebeginning of the section IIDB containing the addresses of a number ofdigitizing picture lines. It is to be noted that the detection circuits250 and 251 are needed only for processing the residually coded picturesand not for processing absolutely coded pictures. For the purpose ofthese detections, inputs of the first and the second detection circuit250 and 251 are connected to the signal path 142. A decoding circuit 252for decoding the residually coded picture information and a controlcircuit 253 for controlling the picture processing operation areconnected to the signal path 142. The signal path 142 and outputs of thedecoding circuit 252 are connected to data inputs of a picture memory255 via a multiplex circuit 254, to store the read and decoded pictureinformation. Dam outputs of the picture memory 255 are connected to theinputs of the decoding circuit 252 and to the inputs of the multiplexcircuit 254. The control circuit 253 comprises an address generator 256for addressing the memory locations in the picture memory 255. Thepicture processing unit 141 further comprises a second address generator257 for addressing the memory locations in order to output the contentof the picture memory to a signal converter 258. The signal converter258 is of a customary type which converts the picture information readfrom the picture memory 255 into a form suitable for application to thepicture display unit 10. The decoding circuit 252 may comprise, forexample, a Huffman decoding circuit 261a controlled by the control unit253 and an adder circuit 259. The Huffman decoding circuit 261a decodesthe information received via the signal path 142 and subsequentlysupplies this decoded information to one of the inputs of the addercircuit 259. Another input of the adder circuit 259 is connected to thedata outputs of the picture memory 255. The result of the addingoperation performed by the adder circuit 259 is applied to the multiplexcircuit 254. The control circuit 253 is coupled to the control unit 140via a control signal path 260. The control circuit 253 may comprise, forexample, a programmable control and computing unit. Such a control andcomputing unit may comprise, for example, a dedicated hardware unit or amicroprocessor system loaded with suitable control software, by means ofwhich, on the basis of control commands received via the control signalpath 260, the address generator 256 and the multiplex circuit 254 arecontrolled in such a way that a selected portion of the pictureinformation applied via the signal path 142 is loaded into the picturememory. The information thus stored in the picture memory 255 is readwith the aid of an address generator 257 and is subsequently applied tothe display unit 10 via the signal converter 258 in order to bedisplayed.

In FIG. 17 the reference numerals 261, 262, 263 denote picturerepresentations of the same picture but with different resolutions. Therepresentation 261 comprises 256 picture lines of 384 pixels each. Therepresentation 262 comprises 512 picture lines of 768 pixels each, andthe representation 263 comprises 1024 picture lines of 1536 pixels each.The digitized pictures corresponding to the representations 261, 262 and263 are included in consecutive subfiles TV/4, TV and 4TV of a picturefile IP. The capacity of the picture memory 255 shown in FIG. 17 is 512rows of at least 768 memory locations (also called memory elements). Ifa representation should represent the entire coded picture, that subfile is selected from the picture file IP, whose number of pixelscorresponds to the capacity of the picture memory, which in the presentcase is the sub file defining the representation 262. This selection canbe made on the basis of the setting data, such as picture numbers andresolution order (this is the identification of the subfile resolution),which are stored at the beginning of each subfile in, for example, theheader HEAD and the subheader SUBHEAD of the blocks BLCK. For eachsubfile, this data is read in by the control circuit 253 in response toa signal supplied by a block synchronization detector 262a upondetection of the beginning of each block BLCK.

In the case that a representation of an absolutely coded picture is tobe reproduced, upon detection of the beginning of the subfile to beselected, the control circuit sets the multiplex circuit 254 to a statein which the signal path 142 is connected to the data inputs of thepicture memory 255. Moreover, the address generator 256 is set to astate in which the memory locations are addressed in synchronism withthe reception of the successive pixel information, in such a way thatthe information for the picture lines 11, . . . , 1512 is stored in therespective rows r1, . . . , r512 of the memory 255. The pictureinformation thus loaded into the memory 255 is read out and is convertedinto a form suitable for the display unit 10 by means of the signalconverter 258. The read-out sequence is determined by the sequence inwhich the address generator 257 generates the successive addresses.During normal reproduction, this sequence is such that the memory isread in a row-by-row fashion, starting with the row r1 and starting withcolumn cl within a row. This is possible both in accordance with theinterlaced-scan principle and the progressive-scan principle. In thecase of read-out according to the interlaced-scan principle, all the oddrows of the picture memory 255 are read first and subsequently all theeven rows of the picture memory 255 are read. In the case of read-out inaccordance with the progressive-scan principle, all the rows are read insequence. A very attractive alternative for the method of storing thepicture information in the picture memory 255 is that in which thepicture memory 255 is first filled with picture information from apicture file defining a lower-resolution representation of a picture andsubsequently the content of the memory is overwritten with a codedpicture defining a higher-resolution representation of the same picture.In the above example, this is possible in that during read-out of, eachcoded pixel from the subfile TV/4 each of a group of 2×2 memory elementsis each time filled with the signal value defined by this coded pixel.This method is known as the "spatial replica" method. A better picturequality is obtained by filling only one of the memory elements of the2×2 matrix with the signal value defined by a read-out pixel, and byderiving the other pixels of the 2×2 matrix from adjacent pixels bymeans of known interpolation techniques. This method is known as the"spatial interpolation" method. After detection of the next subfile (inthe present case TV), the content of the picture memory is, each time,overwritten with the picture information of this sub file in the methodsdescribed above. The amount of information in the sub file TV/4 is onlya quarter of that in the subfile TV. This results in a substantialreduction of the time after which a first provisional picture isdisplayed on the display unit. After read-out of the picture file TV/4,this low-resolution picture is overwritten with a representation of thesame picture having the desired resolution. As the picture files withcoded pictures of successive resolutions succeed one another directly,no time is lost in searching for the subfile TV after read-out of thesubfile TV/4.

In the case that a picture is to be rotated, the address generator 256is set to a state in which the sequence of addressing the memorylocations is adapted in accordance with the desired rotation angle.FIGS. 18b, 18c and 18d illustrate how the picture information is storedin the memory for a rotation through an angle of 270, 180 and 90degrees, respectively. For the sake of clarity, these Figures only showthe positions of the information of the first two picture lines 11 and12 of the picture.

In the case that a representation of a small picture is to be displayedwithin the outline of a full-scan representation of another picture or,if desired, the same picture (PIP function), this can be achieved simplyby filling the desired location of the picture memory 255 with thelow-resolution picture of the sub file TV/4 without magnification. Whenthe picture memory 255 is filled, the address generator 256 is then setto a state in which the information for memory locations is addressed inwhich the small picture is to be stored. To illustrate this, thesememory locations are represented as a frame 264 in FIG. 17. During thepicture processing described above, the presence of the low-resolutionpicture in the subfile TV/4 again has the advantage that the picture :information required to perform this function is directly available inthe picture file IP, so that additional processing is not necessary.

When an enlarged representation of a pan of the absolutely digitizedpicture is to be displayed, the information of a pan of the picture, forexample, the part corresponding to a frame 265, is selected. Theinformation of each pixel of the selected part is loaded into everymemory location of a group of 2×2 memory locations, so that a magnifiedfull-scan representation of low resolution is displayed on the displayunit. Instead of repeating each pixel 2×2 times in the memory, thememory may be filled in accordance with the spatial-interpolationprinciple mentioned in the foregoing.

In order to magnify the residually coded pictures, the above step isperformed first. Subsequently, the part represented by the frame 266 isselected in the subfile 4TV. The part in the frame 266 corresponds tothe part within the frame 265 in the representation 262. The controlcircuit 253 sets the multiplex circuit 254 to a state in which theoutput of the residual decoding circuit 252 is connected to the datainputs of the memory 255. The address generator 256 is set to a state inwhich it addresses the picture memory 255 in synchronism with thereceived coded pixels, in the sequence in which the residually codeddigitized picture information from the subfile 4TV becomes available.The picture information in the addressed memory locations is applied tothe decoding circuit 252 and, by means of the adder circuit 259, it isadded to the residual value, after which the information thus adapted isloaded into the addressed memory location. The part of the pictureinformation recorded on the record carrier corresponding to the frame266 is preferably read on the basis of the information in the controlfile IIDB. The information in the section IIDB is read in by the controlcircuit 253 in response to a signal from the detector 250. Subsequently,the address of that digitized picture line is selected from thisinformation which is situated shortly before the first digitized pictureline corresponding to the picture line in the frame 266. After this, thecontrol circuit supplies a command to the control unit 140 via thecontrol signal path 260, this control unit, in response to this command,initiating a search process in which the part with the selecteddigitized picture line is located. When this part is found, the read-outof the picture information is started and the adaptation of the contentof the memory 255 is started as soon as the part of the first digitizedpicture line which corresponds to the part of the picture within theframe 266 is reached. The detection of this digitized picture line iseffected on the basis of the line numbers which, together with the linesynchronization codes LD, have been inserted at the beginning of eachdigitized picture line. The control circuit reads in these line numbersLN in response to a signal from the detector circuit 25 i. The storageof the address information at the beginning of the sub file 4TV enablesa rapid access to the desired information to be obtained. The detectionof the read-out of the desired residually digitized picture lines issimplified by the presence of the line synchronization cedes and linenumbers in the subfile 4TV.

FIG. 19 shows an embodiment of the read unit 6 by means of which it ispossible to read out the coded picture information recorded on therecord carrier by means of the recording unit shown in FIG. 13. Theshown read unit 6 comprises a customary read head 280 which reads theinformation patterns on the record carrier 184 by scanning the track 20and converts the resulting information into corresponding signals. Theread unit further comprises a customary positioning unit 284 for movingthe read head 280 in a direction transverse to the tracks to a portionof the track 20 specified by a selected address. The movement of theread head 283 is controlled by a control unit 285. The signals convenedby the read head 280 are decoded by an EFM decoding circuit 281 and aresubsequently applied to a CIRC decoding circuit 282. The CIRC decodingcircuit 282 is of a customary type, which restores the originalstructure of the information which has been interleaved prior torecording and which detects and, if possible, corrects incorrectly readcodes. Upon detection of incorrigible errors, the CIRC decoding unitsupplies a new error flag signal. The information which has beenrestored and corrected by the CIRC decoding circuit 282 is applied to adeformatting circuit 283 which removes the additional information addedby the formatting circuit 186 prior to recording. The EFM demodulatingcircuit 281, the CIRC decoding circuit 282, and the deformatting circuit283 are controlled in a customary manner by the control unit 285. Theinformation supplied by the deformatting circuit 283 is applied via aninterface circuit 286. The deformatting circuit may comprise an errorcorrection circuit by means of which errors which cannot be corrected bythe CIRC decoding circuit can be detected and corrected. This iseffected by means of redundant information EDC & ECC added by theformatting circuit 166. The error correction circuit, which iscomparatively complex and therefore comparatively expensive, is notnecessary. This is because the effects of erroneously read codes in theabsolutely coded picture information can be masked simply by replacingthe incorrectly read coded pixels and/or a complete coded picture lineby picture information derived from one or more adjacent coded pixels oradjacent coded picture lines. Such a correction can be effected simplyby means of the signal processing unit 141 shown in FIG. 16, byprogramming the control circuit 253 so as to be responsive to the errorflag signal supplied by the CIRC decoding circuit 282 to control theaddress generator 256 in such a way that the information of an adjacentpixel is read and, at the same time, the multiplex circuit 254, is setto a state in which the data outputs of the picture memory 255 areconnected to the data inputs. Subsequently, the address generator isreset to its previous state and, instead of the incorrectly read codedpixel, the information read from the picture memory 255 is stored at theaddressed memory location.

In the case that a residually coded picture is read, the value in thememory 255 to is not adapted upon detection of an incorrectly readresidual value but remains unchanged. This can be achieved, for example,by causing the control circuit to generate a signal which inhibitswriting into the memory 255 when the erroneous residual value isapplied.

The capacity of the picture memory 255 is large, so that the cost priceof such a memory is comparatively high. The memory capacity may bereduced by arranging between the multiplexer 254 and the picture memory255, a sample rate converter 290 of a customary type, which reduces thenumber of pixels per line from 786 to 512.

With reference to FIG. 21-27 now further embodiments of the apparatusand method will be described.

FIG. 21 diagrammatically illustrates a photographic color filmprocessing system (photofinishing minilab) with which the presentinvention may be employed.

In accordance with the digital picture processing system of FIG. 21,photographic pictures, such as a set of twenty-four or thirty-six 36mm×24 mm picture flames of a 35 mm film strip 410, are scanned by a highresolution opto-electronic film scanner 412, such as a commerciallyavailable Eikonix Model 1435 scanner. High resolution scanner 12 outputsdigitally encoded data (e.g., a 3072×2048 pixel matrix) representativeof the interval electronic scanning of a high resolution picture sensingarray onto which a respective photographic picture frame of film strip10 is projected. This digitally encoded data (digitized picture) iscoupled, in the form of a pixel array-representative bit map, to anattendant picture processing workstation 414 which contains a framestore and picture processing application software through which thedigitized picture may be processed (e.g., enlarged, cropped, subjectedto a scene balance correction, etc.) to achieve a desired pictureappearance. Once a picture file has been prepared, it is stored on atransportable data base medium, such as a write-once optical compactdisc, using compact disc recorder 416. The disc may then be insertedinto a compact disc player 420 and, via the operation of selectorswitches of a cabinet-resident control panel or (I) remote control unit600, a selected picture file is accessed for display on the user'stelevision set 422. The CD player may also drive a high resolutionthermal printer 424 for obtaining a hard copy of a selected picture.

In accordance with the picture processing system as describedhereinbefore each digitized high resolution picture is stored as arespective picture file containing a low, (or base) resolution absolutecoded pictures, and a plurality of higher resolution residual codedpictures associated with respectively increasing degrees of pictureresolution. By iteratively combining the higher resolution residualdigitized pictures data with the low resolution absolute digitizedpictures, successively increased resolution pictures may be recoveredfrom the base resolution picture.

As an example, spatial data values representative of a high resolution(3072×2048) picture scan of a 36 mm -by-24 mm picture frame of a 35 mmfilm strip 10 may be stored as a respective picture file including abase resolution digitized picture, containing data values associatedwith a spatial picture array of 512 rows and 768 columns of pixels, andan associated set of residual coded pictures, to be stored on the disc.Within the workstation itself, the base resolution digitized picture maybe further sub-sampled to derive an even lower resolution sub-array ofpicture values (e.g., on the order of 128×192 pixels) for display on asegment of the system operator's workstation for the purpose ofidentifying picture orientation and specifying aspect ratio. Preferably,a header file is associated with each picture file for the purpose ofspecifying how the picture was captured on film and has beencorrespondingly digitized and stored on disc. The information in theheader file is used by the playback device to ensure that the picturewill have an upright orientation and the correct aspect ratio for thereproduction device. In addition, a master header file is recorded whichincludes a unique ID number for each disc recorded by CD recorder 416 inFIG. 21, in order to uniquely identify each disc.

When a film strip is originally scanned in the photoprocessing minilab,each picture is digitized as though it were horizontally oriented,irrespective of its actual orientation on the film. The digitizedpicture is stored in the workstation's frame store, as is, and a lowerresolution representation of the digitized picture is displayed on thedisplay monitor of workstation 14, so that the picture may be viewed bythe operator. As each picture is digitized and stored on the disc, thephotofinishing minilab operator, using a workstation input device,enters picture parameter data in the form a set of "presentation"control codes that are incorporated within the header file associatedwith a respective picture file to indicate how the picture has beenstored, so that, when subsequently accessed by a reproduction device,the picture will be played back in an upright orientation at the correctaspect ratio.

FIG. 22 diagrammatically illustrates the signal processing architectureof a picture retrieval mechanism that has been modified, in accordancewith the present invention, to incorporate an auxiliary removable memorymodule for storing user-customized picture parameter data. The playbackdevice itself is preferably a compact optical disc player, such as aCD-I player which accesses digital picture files that have been storedon disc and supplies video signals to a user's color television monitor.The contents of the picture file read from an optical compact disc 440are coupled to a deformatter 442, wherein the file is deformated into adigitized picture and its associated header field, under the control ofa resident microcontroller 444. The digitized picture is stored in apicture memory 450, while the contents of the header field are coupledto a memory access control circuit 452, which controls how the digitizedpicture data is transferred from the disc into picture memory 450 andhow the contents of the frame store are read out to associated circuitry454 for driving a color television display 456. Depending upon the sizeof picture memory 450, the architecture of the memory access controlcircuitry may incorporate decimation/interpolation operators to adjustthe aspect ratio and size of the picture eventually supplied by theframe store to the television display. In accordance with theimprovement provided by the present invention, the user/viewer is ableto supply and store customizing picture parameter data independently ofpreprogrammed picture parameter data on the disc, so thatmicrocontroller 444 will control the presentation of picture data to thedisplay device in accordance with such user-preference inputs. For thispurpose, microcontroller 444 is coupled with an interface 458 throughwhich it may write to and read a removably engageable auxiliary digitaldata base medium, such a memory module 460 e.g. in the form of anelectrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM). The formmodule 460 takes may be any of a variety of currently available EEPROMmodules, such as a "smart card" or a magnetic ROM cartridge used incommercial video games and laptop computers. For an illustration of theuse and manner of interfacing an EEPROM device, per se, as an auxiliarymemory module for augmenting the internal storage capacibility of aplayback device, attention may be directed to the U.S. Pat. No.4,855,842 to Hayes et al., which describes the interfacing of such amodule for a programmed video teaching system, and how such an auxiliarymemory module can be used to permit access by one or more specific users(students) and keep track of a student's progress.

In accordance with the present invention, such an auxiliary,transportable, memory module is used for storing user-sourced pictureparameter data, such as contrast, picture magnification, color balance,saturation, border type and border location, etc., thereby enabling theuser to save, in a removable memory module, parameters that have beeninput to the microcontroller, as by way of a conventional, hand-heldremote control (IR) unit 600. Removable memory module 460 may then beextracted from interface 458 in the playback device and reinserted intothat device during a subsequent playback operation or inserted, alongwith its associated disc, in another playback device for controllinganother reproduction unit.

In order to facilitate an understanding of the picture customizing andauxiliary storage mechanism of the present invention, the followingdiscussion will explain both the operation and the data structure usedto assemble respective pictures and associated parameter fields that aredefined in the course of customizing one or a plurality of pictures.

When an optical compact disc onto which digitized picture files havebeen recorded is inserted into playback device 420 in FIG. 21, thepresentation of picture on NTSC display 422 can be controlled by theuser via IR remote control unit 600, which is shown in greater detail inFIG. 27. Individual pictures can be viewed by entering the picturenumber using buttons 604 and then pressing the play button 606, or bypressing either the track forward or track backwards arrows 608 to moveon to the next or back to the previous picture on the disc. As thepicture data is read from the disc 640, the preprogrammed pictureparameter data is used to control the memory access control circuit 452,so that the correctly oriented picture is read from picture memory 450.However, should the orientation code in the preprogrammed pictureparameter data be in error, due, for example, to an operator erroneouslyprogramming the presentation control data for the particular picture inthe course of recording the picture onto the disc via CD recorder 416(FIG. 21), then the user may re-orient the picture via rotate buttons620.

The user may also zoom in or out to display only a portion of thepicture in enlarge form by pressing the zoom button 610 followed byeither of the up/down arrow keys 616, which instructs the memory controlcircuit 452 to read out the proper portion of the picture stored inpicture memory 450. Further, the user may alter the appearance of anydisplayed picture by pressing the "lighten" button 622 followed byeither the up/down arrows 616, which cause the supply of control codesfor increasing or decreasing the contrast of the picture, respectively,or the left/right arrows 618, which increase or decrease the brightnessof the picture, respectively, by properly instructing the color and tonemodification circuit 453 to alter the brightness or contrast of thedigitized picture as desired, via digital lookup tables.

The user may also alter the color of the displayed picture. For thispurpose, the user may depress color button 624, followed by either theup/down arrows 616, which cause the generation of control codes toincrease or decrease the color saturation of the picture, respectively.Similarly, the user may depress the left/right arrows 618, which alterthe color balance of the picture, respectively, by instructing the colorand tone modification circuit 453 to alter the saturation or colorbalance of the digitized picture by means of a digital 3×3 colorcorrection matrix circuit (not shown).

The user may also create a colored border in the picture via colorborder generator and text generator 455, by first pressing the borderbutton 626 followed by the arrow keys 616 and 618 which allow the borderto be properly positioned. The color of the border can be changed bypressing the color button 624 and the border button 626 simultaneously,and then pressing keys 616 to alter the color saturation, or keys 618 toalter the color hue.

Generation and positioning of the colored border may be accomplished bymeans of the border generator circuitry disclosed in co-pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 405,816, filed Sep. 11, 1989, entitled "Adigital circuit for creating area dependent special effects" by K. A.Parulski, et al., and the disclosure of which is herein incorporated.

Finally, via a color and tone modification circuit of the type describedin the above-referenced Parulski et al '816 application for generating"posterized" pictures, the user may also create special effects, byfirst depressing the effects button 628 followed by the an:or keys 616and 618, which cycle through a number of available effects, includingposterized, false-color, or "negative" pictures, until the user selectsa pleasing effect for the current picture. The ease with which the usermay access the above-described features may be facilitated by judicioususe of on-screen menu overlays supplied by text generator 955. Oncepicture has been "customized" in the manner described above, it is verydesirable for the user to be able to display the picture in the futurein exactly the same fashion, instead of having to repeat thecustomization procedure each time the picture is to be replayed. Thus,it is advantageous to be able to store the data describing theparameters which indicate how the picture has been altered, so that itcan be recalled and used subsequently, when the user wishes to displaythe same picture. Because the system of FIG. 21 uses a write-onceoptical disc, and because CD player 620 cannot record information ontothe optical disc, it is not possible to store this data onto the compactdisc 640 of FIG. 22.

Thus, some other method of storing the data is required. While a controldata memory may be permanently housed within the CD player, it ispreferable that the storage device, such as EEPROM module 460 in FIG.22, be removable and insertable into one or more other playback units.

In accordance with the present invention, once the user has customizedpicture in the manner described previously, the store button 630 isdepressed, which causes the parameters which define the manner in whichthe picture has been altered to be temporarily stored in a scratchpadRAM 445. The user may then proceed to display, and optionally alter, anyor all of the pictures on the disc, depressing the store button 630 oncea preferred picture display is obtained. After all viewing, altering,and storing of pictures on the disc has been completed, the eject button640 is pressed, which causes the disc to be ejected from the CD player,and also causes data stored in scratchpad RAM 445 to be written intoEEPROM memory 460. As a result, the next time the same disc is insertedinto any player containing the EEPROM module 460 used during theprogramming session just described, the customized control data can beread out from EEPROM module 460 into the scratchpad 445, in order todisplay the pictures in the order programmed earlier and with the samezoom position, color balance, etc.

The user may delete any of the programmed pictures by pressing the clearbutton 632, so that any new pictures may be customized by advancing tothe desired picture optionally altering the appearance of the displayedpicture, and then pressing the store button 630. This new control datais again temporarily stored in scratchpad RAM 445 and then written toremovable EEPROM module 660 when the disc is ejected, as describedabove.

FIG. 23 illustrates the organization of the data stored in EEPROM module660 for the storage of parameters which control picture customization asdescribed above. For purposes of providing an illustrative example, thememory organization of FIG. 23 assumes that EEPROM module 460 is a 64Kbyte memory, which corresponds to a 16-bit address space. The 64K memoryis divided into four separate sections, i.e., a pointer table section520, a video display control data section 540, an optional reprintrequest data section 560, and an optional album disc data section 580.The lowest addresses are used to store a pointer table 520 which storesa multiplicity of pointer entries of three different types: discidentification (ID) pointer entries, such as disc #1 pointer entry 502and disc #n pointer entry 560, print request pointer entries, such asprint request pointer entry 510, and album disc request pointer entries,such as album disc request pointer 514.

The disc ID pointer entries, such as disc #1 pointer entry 502, are 6bytes in length and include 2 values, a 4 byte disc ID number, such asdisc #1 ID 503, followed by a 2 byte address value, such as disc #1address 504. Address 504 is the address within EEPROM address space 500at which the data for the disc having an ID number matching the valuestored in location 503 is stored. In other words, the address 504"points" (as depicted by line 504) to the EEPROM memory location atwhich the picture parameter data for pictures with disc #1 ID 503 arestored. Similarly, address 508 at which the data for the disc #N havingan ID number matching the value stored in location 507 is stored. Thepointer table 520 contains disc ID pointer entries for all discs whichhave been previously inserted into playback device 420 and programmed ina manner to be described below.

When a disc is inserted into a CD player 420, the four byte ID numberprogrammed into the header of each disc is read from the disc 440 (FIG.2) and the ID number is routed by deformatter 4.42 to microcontroller444. Microcontroller 444 then searches the pointer table 520 todetermine if any of the disc IDs, for example, the IDs stored inlocation 503 or 507, match the ID number of the disc 540. If there is amatch, for example, with the ID value stored in location 507 of EEPROMaddress spaced 500, the corresponding picture parameter data (videocontrol data) in this exampled disc #N data file 518, is read fromEEPROM module 460 into scratchpad RAM 445 via memory modue interface 58and microcontroller 444.

The data in each of the individual disc data files, for example, disc #Ndata file 548, is organized in the manner shown in FIG. 24. The datafile 700 is composed of a number of display records, for example displayrecords 720, 760 and 780. Each display record, for example displayrecord 720, is composed of two parts, a i.e., required part 722including a status byte 730 and a picture number byte 732, and anoptional part 724 which depends on the value of status byte 730. Thepicture byte 732 indicates which picture data record on the disc shouldbe used to create the picture. This allows the pictures on the disc tobe played back in any order, and further allows the same picture to bedisplayed more than once, in two or more different altered forms, sothat, for example, different parts of the same picture can be viewed atdiffering magnifications.

The two LSBs (bit 0 and bit 1) of the status byte 330 are used to storedthe orientation of the picture. The next 5 bits (bits 2-26) of statusbyte 730 indicate which, if any, optional features have been used toalter the picture. In particular, bit 2=1 indicates that the zoomfeature was used. When bit 2=1, three one byte parameter values arestored following the picture number byte, the first byte 734 indicatingthe zoom value (magnification), the second byte 736 indicating therelative position of the left edge of the zoomed area in the x directionrelative to the left edge of the original picture, and the third byte338 indicating the relative position of the top edge of the zoomed areain the y direction relative to the top edge of the original picture. If,on the other hand, bit 2=0, the zoom feature was not used to alter thepicture, and the three one byte parameter values are not stored, thusreducing the amount of memory required.

In a similar manner, bit 3=1 indicates that the contrast byte 740 andthe brightness byte 742 are present, while bit 3=0 indicates that thisfeature was not used to alter the picture. Color change are indicatedwith bit 4=1 along with saturation byte 744 and hue value byte 746. Bit5=1 indicates that the border feature was used and that border colorbyte 748, border X position 750, and border Y position 752 are present.Bit 6=1 indicates that the effects feature was also used, and that theeffects byte 754 will be present.

Note that for display recorder 370, on the other hand, none of theoptional features was used to alter the appearance of the picture,except perhaps the orientation feature. Status bits 2-7 all are set to0, indicating that the picture number stored in EEPROM address 772should be displayed with the default settings for zoom, light, color,and border, and without special effects. For display record '780, onlythe "lighten" 622 button was used to alter the appearance of thepicture, so that bit 3=1, and the contrast and brightness parameters arestored. Record 790, where bit 7=1, indicates that the end of discodatafile 700 has been reached.

The removable EEPROM module 460 shown in FIG. 22 can also be programmedto order one-or more reprints from a photo finisher equipped with thethermal printer 424 and CD player 420 (FIG. 1) which incorporates thememory module interface 458 of FIG. 22. The disc or disc containing thedigitized picture, together with EEPROM module 460, are delivered to thephotofinisher, who can automatically generate the desired pictures intheir desired form, by reading the reprint request data 560 (FIG. 23).

The organization of file 560 is shown in greater detail in FIG. 25. File560 contains a number of print recorders, for example, 810 and 820, eachof which is composed of four values, a four byte disc number 812, a onebyte picture number 814, a one byte print size parameter 816, and a onebyte copies value 818. The user programs the reprint request data file800 by locating a desired picture and pressing the reprint button 620 ofremote control unit 600. The uses next pusher up/down arrow button 616to select the desired print size, enters the number of copies desiredusing buttons 604, and finally pushes the store button 630. After allthe desired picture prints have been selected and stored, the disc isejected and the reprint request data is written from scratchpad RAM 445to EEPROM module 460, followed by the "reserved word" disc number=0,indicating the end of the reprint request data. When the EEPROM moduleand discs are supplied to the photofinisher, the reprint request datafile may be used to automatically determine the size and number ofreprints, and the disc data file used to automatically select anyoptional features such as zoom, color balance, effects, etc. stored bythe user.

The removable EEPROM module 660 in FIG. 26 can also be programmed toproduce one or more "album" picture discs from a photofinisher equippedwith the CD recorder 16 and playback device 420 of FIG. 21, whichincorporates a memory module interface 458 of FIG. 22. The disc or discscontaining the digitized pictures, and the EEPROM module 60 are suppliedto the photofinisher, who may automatically record the desired picturesin the desired order onto the new album disc, by reading the album discdata 580 in FIG. 23.

The organization of file 580 is also shown in greater detail in FIG. 15.File 580 file contains a number of album order records, for example,910, 920 and 930, each of which is composed of two values, a four bytedisc number 912, and a one byte picture number 914. The user programsthe album disc data file 800 by locating the desired pictures, one at atime and in the desired order, and pressing the album button 660followed by the stored button 630 on remote control unit 200. When theEEPROM module and discs are given to the photofinisher, the album discdata file is used to automatically decide the order of transferredpictures, and the appropriate disc data files are also written into themaster header file of the new album disc, where they may be used toautomatically present the pictures on the album disc using the desiredoptional features such as zoom, color balance, effects, etc., originallystored by the user in the disc data files of the EEPROM module.

As will be appreciated from the foregoing description, the limitedability of an internal memory in a CD player to store user-generatedpicture parameter data is augmented in accordance with the presentembodiment of the invention by incorporating a storage medium, such asan electrically programmable read only memory module, configured to beremovably interfaced with the CD player's microcontroller for storingpicture parameter data that has been (remotely) programmed by the user.The module can be then removed from the playback device and insertedinto that or another playback device for controlling its operation. Thecustomized picture parameter data may include one or more picturereproduction parameters including contrast, picture magnification, colorbalance, saturation, border type and border location. It may also storeinformation from which a photofinisher may produce hard copy prints ofselected pictures or an entirely new album disc of user selections takenfrom multiple discs. When creating a new album disc, the customizedpicture parameter data may be recorded from the memory module into themaster header file on the new discs, so that the EEPROM modulecontaining the customized picture parameter data does not need to bereplicated.

While we have shown and described an embodiment in accordance with thepresent invention, it is to be understood that the same is not limitedthereto but is susceptible to numerous changes and modifications asknown to a person skilled in the art, and we therefore do not wish to belimited to the details shown and described herein but intend to coverall such changes and modifications as are obvious to one of ordinaryskill in the art.

I claim:
 1. A digitized picture playback apparatus for retrievingpictures from a digital data base medium in which digitized pictures andinformation defining first individual picture representation parametersettings have been stored, said digitized picture playback apparatuscomprising:a read unit for reading the digitized pictures from thedigital data base medium; a picture processing unit for converting thedigitized pictures read by the read unit into a picture signal suitablefor application to a reproduction apparatus for reproducing a visiblerepresentation of the picture signal, wherein the picture processingunit processes the digitized pictures in accordance with picturerepresentation parameter settings supplied to the picture processingunit so as to cause amended presentations of the individual pictures onsaid reproduction apparatus; first means for detecting, on said digitaldata base medium, a data base identification uniquely identifying thedigital data base medium present in the digitized picture playbackapparatus; and manually operable entry means for entering secondindividual picture representation parameter settings, characterized inthat the apparatus further comprises: means for reading, from thedigital data base medium, said information defining said firstindividual picture representation parameter settings; means for storingin a memory, together with a data base identification, differencesbetween the respective information defining said first individualpicture representation parameter settings stored in the digital database medium and the second individual picture representation parametersettings entered via said entry means, said differences beinginformation defining said second individual picture representationparameter settings for individual digitized pictures recorded on thedigital data base medium identified by said data base identification;second means for detecting whether, for said data base identification,information defining second individual picture representation parametersettings is stored in the memory; and user controllable means,responsive to said second means for detecting, for selectively supplyingthe first or second individual picture representation parameter settingsto the picture processing unit as said picture representation parametersettings.
 2. A digitized picture playback apparatus as claimed in claim1, wherein the user controllable means carries out said selection inaccordance with a predetermined selection criterion.
 3. A digitizedpicture playback apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterized in thatthe picture processing unit comprises means for processing the digitizedpictures for producing, on the reproduction apparatus, a magnifiedrepresentation of a portion of at least one of the digitized pictures inaccordance with a magnification factor defined by the picturerepresentation parameter settings selectively supplied to the pictureprocessing unit.
 4. A digitized picture playback apparatus as claimed inclaim 1, characterized in that the picture processing unit comprisesmeans for processing the digitized pictures for producing, on thereproduction apparatus, a translation of at least one of the digitizedpictures by a distance and in a direction as specified by the picturerepresentation parameter settings selectively supplied to the pictureprocessing unit.
 5. A digitized picture playback apparatus as claimed inclaim 1, characterized in that the picture processing unit comprisesmeans for processing the digitized pictures for producing, on thereproduction apparatus, color or luminance adaptation of at least one ofthe digitized pictures as specified by the picture representationparameter settings selectively supplied to the picture processing unit.6. A digitized picture playback apparatus as claimed in claim 1,characterized in that the picture processing unit comprises means forprocessing the digitized pictures for producing, on the reproductionapparatus, a rotation of at least one of the digitized pictures over anangle in accordance with an orientation specified by the picturerepresentation parameter settings selectively supplied to the pictureprocessing unit.
 7. A digitized picture playback apparatus as claimed inclaim 1, wherein said memory comprises a non-volatile memory.
 8. Adigitized picture playback apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein saidnon-volatile memory is an electrically erasable programmable read onlymemory.
 9. A digitized picture playback apparatus as claimed in claim 8,wherein said memory is an integral part of the apparatus.
 10. Adigitized picture playback apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein saidmemory is removably engageable with the apparatus.
 11. A digitizedpicture playback apparatus for retrieving pictures from a digital database medium in which digitized pictures and information defining firstindividual picture representation parameter settings have been stored,said digitized picture playback apparatus comprising:an optical compactdisc player for reading a compact disc, comprising said digital database medium, on which a plurality of digitized pictures are stored inaccordance with a format in which the digitized pictures form a CDsignal and are included in blocks with a length which corresponds to asubcode frame in the CD signal; deformatting means coupled to saidoptical compact disc player for separating the digitized picturesincluded in the blocks; a picture processing unit for converting theseparated digitized pictures into a picture signal suitable forapplication to a reproduction apparatus for reproducing a visiblerepresentation of the picture signal, wherein the picture processingunit processes the separated digitized pictures in accordance withpicture representation parameter settings supplied to the pictureprocessing unit so as to cause amended presentations of the pictures onthe reproduction apparatus; means for reading, from the compact disc,said information defining said first individual picture representationparameter settings: first means for detecting, on the compact disc, acompact disc identification uniquely identifying the compact discpresent in the optical compact disc player; manually operable entrymeans for entering second individual picture representation parametersettings; a memory for storing information defining individual picturerepresentation parameter settings; means for storing in said memory,together with said compact disc identification, information definingsaid second individual picture representation parameter settings forindividual digitized pictures recorded on the compact disc identified bysaid compact disc identification, said information comprisingdifferences between respective first individual picture representationparameter setting stored in said compact disc and said second individualpicture representation parameter settings entered by said entry means;second means for detecting whether, for said compact discidentification, information defining second individual picturerepresentation parameter settings is stored in the memory; and usercontrollable means, responsive to said second means for detecting, forselectively supplying the first or second individual picturerepresentation parameter settings to the picture processing unit as saidpicture representation parameter settings.
 12. A digitized pictureplayback apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein said memory comprisesa non-volatile memory.
 13. A digitized picture playback apparatus asclaimed in claim 12, wherein said non-volatile memory is an electricallyerasable programmable read only memory.
 14. An apparatus as claimed inclaim 12, or 13, wherein said memory is an integral part of theapparatus.
 15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 12 or 13, wherein saidmemory is removably engageable with the apparatus.